Sunday, January 04, 2015

Merry & bright

We flew back to WA on December 15th, but before that, we crammed our days with twinkly garland & tissue paper flying every which way & great piles of sugar. Besides a terrible tantrum I threw regarding the difficulty of lighting our little tree, it was very merry & bright, a nice beginning to our first holiday season in the south.

Beginning on the 3rd, Jan Michael transformed the kitchen into his annual caramel corn factory. When all was said and done, he either hand-delivered or mailed about 25 batches. I say this every year, but it makes smile & smile to see him carrying on a tradition all his own that brings him - and all of his lucky-duck recipients :) - so much gladness. He was particularly gleeful this time around about the 25 lb bag of brown sugar we found at Costco; he made a decent dent in it, but even so, I don't think it will be gone anytime soon :)

This business of the ugly Christmas sweater is so funny to me, especially when people jump in with both of their creative feet. And never before have I considered green pants; I will enthusiastically nudge Jan Michael in that direction next year :)

Presents! We've never waited until Christmas Day to open them; how could I possibly be expected to be so patient? Besides, cramming anything extra into our suitcases for our trip on the 15th was totally out of the question, so we ripped into them the first Saturday of the month. 
He unwrapped a pile of Donald Duck comics along with some other silliness - a Star Wars thumb wrestling kit, of which I was quite proud - and I found a collection of things to aid me on my ever-evolving quest for fitness: heavy barbells, a new yoga mat, and a nice, cushy bike seat for my poor bottom, which did not get along well with the old seat at all. Also, there were these adorable mugs, which made me squeal:
And then, a very fancy Christmas portrait: 
The month felt very full since we celebrated on our own for the first half, and then again with so many dear loved ones for the second half; I vote that we do it just exactly the same way next time :) 

Thursday, January 01, 2015

Catch up

It seems that today's young whippersnappers make generous use of something called 'throwback Thursday' in which they share pictures from days gone by. I don't know if the end of October is throwing it back enough to be official, but I'm behind and today happens to be Thursday, so...

Our parents were with us for one glorious week from the 21st to the 28th, and we filled our time with trips to the science center, aquarium, and arboretum, along with a little bit of exploring around town. We were also able to spend a day together at one of our annual church conventions, where we ran into a handful of Washingtonians; I don't know if I'll ever not be amazed that it really is a small, small world.


Oh, and I almost forgot: Happy New Year!!! :)